Self-starter for automobiles.



P. T. CAMPBELL. SELF STARTER FOR AUTOMOBILES.

APPLICATION FILED A233, 1913.

/ Patented June 30,1914.

Y 'i'olgnition wi f nwwo 771. I)

Shana wow J MW UNITED STATES PATENT nrrc T PAUL 'ncnMrBnLL, or ennnwwrcn, connncrzcur.

sELr-smnrnn non, nuronorenms.

Specification of Letters Fatent.

Patented J neen, 1am.

Application filed April 3, 1913. Serial No. 758,537.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL T. CAMPBELL a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Greenwich, county of Fairfield, State of Connecticut, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Self-Starters for Automobiles; and I do. declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

. This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in self starters for.

automobiles, and the object thereof is to provide novel and improved means for automatically firing the charge when a sufi'icient quantity of gasolene has been pumped into the spark plug or plugs, and a further object of the invention is to provide improved means incorporated in a spark plug for cleansing the terminals thereof.

2 is pivoted at 3 intermediate the ends of a vertically disposed hand-operated lever 4, the latter being pivoted at 5 to the floor structure of the automobile. A bracket 6 or any other suitable supporting structure is attached to the dash-board D and bears a ver-' tically disposed member 7 that is spaced from the dash-board, and has a contact 8 at its upper end. A coil-spring 9 is interposed between the member 7 and the lever 4; for a urpose shortly to be described. A as tank has a pipe connection 10 with an atomizer 'body 11 in order to feed gasolene to the latter, a check-ball valve 12 being mounted in the pipe connection to prevent back flow of gasolene into the tank. Projected through. the upper end of the body .11 is a pipe 13 which connects by means of a pipe 14 to the air pump 1, a'check-ball valve 15' being interposed in said pipe 14 to revent return of the air into the?" ump. T epipe 13 has a series of pipes 15" connected there- -1l and causing t to, the latter leadin to the respective spark plugs 16. A tube 1 has one end extending in the pipe 13 and its other end extending down into the body of the atomizer as is usual 1nthe latter. Each spark plug 16 has ahollow body portion or chamber closed at its lower end at '17 and formed with tubular portion 18 which affords the inlet and outlet of said chamber, which tubular portion preferably extends inwardly within said chamber, the bore of said tubular portion being preferably of conical form, the wall of such bore forming one of the terminals of the spark plug, the other terminal 19 being a bare elongated wire which extendsdown into said bore so as to be suitably spaced- -from the wall of the latter. The pipes 15 have curved free ends 20 which extend through the sides of the bodies of the spark plugs, in order to discharge the combustible mixture downwardly in the spark plugs. A battery coil and timer 21 is connected to the dash-board.

In operation the lever at is oscillated to pump air through the pipe 14 and into the the gasolene in the body e atomized fluid to pass through the pipes 15 into the spark plug bodies. When sufiicicnt atomized fluid has been pum ed into the spark plug bodies, a

pipe 13, atomizing;

portion 0 same will be liquefied and will collect in the bottom of the spark plug as shown in Flg. 3, at which time the lever 4 in its oscillatory movements in which it engages contact 8 will thereby close the circuit through the spark plug terminals, causing a spark which will ignite the gases in the chamber, the liquid fuel which collects in the bottom of the spark plug being ignited by-the ignition of the gases. The contact 8 and the lever 4 are arranged in any suitable manner in electrical connection with the ignition system, for instance with one of the low tension terminals of such ignition system.

. The bore of the-tubularportion may be either straight or conical, so long as the end of the terminal 19 is properly spaced from the wall of such bore, but I prefer the conical form of bore since it provides a wedgeshaped wall, so to speak, that surrounds the said terminal 19 and when .the priming charge is ignited, as above described, the same will rush past the terminal 19 in escaping from the plug body and lcwill be forced by the wedge-shaped walls "to move cessity pt. hroug; the small end of the e n 18 and due to the small .t i d care will cause the charge to rush past the terminal with great force. It thereicu'e of paramount importance that tie walls fioirned by the bore of the extension shah be disposed in very close proximity to the terminal. Further by making the extensions long, the cleansing effect is enhanced, since the exploded charge is :torced into intimate contact with the terminal throughout a greater portion of the length of the latter. An additional advantage of the conical bore, is, that should the sparking distance between the terminals be too little, this may be remedied by shorte tlr 'rminal 19 so that its end. may be 1 up within the conical bore and there- I: re separated by a greater space from the wa the latter, and this shortening of the eliected in any suitable oy making its normal length adjusting the same by any ordinary means provided for the purpose of elerating or lowerii'ig the terminal. I prefer to extend the tubular portion within the hollow chamber since a convenient receptacleis thereby formed at the bottom of such chamber for any itpielled gas, but I do not wish to be limited in this respect since such tubular portion may project downwardly from the be om r uch chamber. As soon as the lever o is released by the operator, the spring 9 will return same to normal neutral position, depicted in Fig. l. of the drawings.

l'l'hat clain'ied is: l. in a self starter for automobiles, a spark plug" lie-vino means therein to collect liquefied gasolene i'rom the charge, means to atomize the gasolene and to force same into the plug, means to operate the atomizing means, a contact having electrical connection with one of the low tension ternn. ils of the ignition system, and an electrical connection between said operating means of the atomizingz means, and the plug. 7

2. In combination with a spark plug hav ing means therein to collect liquefied gasolene from the charge, manually operated means to force the charge into the plug, and a normally open electric circuit having a contact for engagement with the charge forcing means to close the circuit upon operating of the last named means said plug having contact with one of the low tension terminals of the ignition system.

3. In a self starter for automobiles, a spark plug having means therein to collect liquefied gasolene from the charge, atomizing means connected to the plug, an air pump connected to the atomizing means, a pivoted manually operated lever in electrical connection with one of the lower tension terminals of the ignition system, for operating the pump and a contact for engagement with the lever in electrical connection with the other low tension terminal of the ignition system.

4. In a self starter for automobiles, a spark plug having means therein to collect liquefied gasolene from the charge, atomizinp; means connected to the plug, an air pump connected to the atomizing means, a pivoted manually operated lever for operating the pump, a contact for engagement .with the lever, said contact and lever being in electrical connection with the ignition system and means for normally maintaiir ing the lever out of engagement with said contact.

5. A spark plug having at its lower end a hollow chamber having a perforated bottom, the latter formed with an elongated flared tubular portion which affords the inlet and outlet to said chamber, the inner wall of said, tubular portion fOl'l'lllllfI one terminal, and an elongated wire extending through said hollow chamber within said bore and properly spaced therefrom at the sparking point and constituting the other terminal.

in testimony whereof I aliix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PAUL T. CAMPBELL. 'Witnesses W. SMITH, J12, M. TLONGDEN. 

